Obtaining a prosperity mindset

By Paul Bond | Published June 17, 2011

Prosperity Sign

Having a prosperity mindset has been discussed many times and in many places in the Morning Coach Community. Having this mindset is a key to abundance. But how to we cultivate and keep this “higher level” mindset in a world where we are surrounded by lack thinking?

One of the most important keys is having a defined (i.e. written) life purpose and a set of defined (and specific)  goals. These two steps are crucial to moving forward in a positive way and gaining the prosperity you deserve! Yet many people have not even mentally taken them. Why? Is it because they are too hard to accomplish? Are these steps so nebulous in their nature that only a select few can truly understand how to accomplish them?

The answer to both of these questions is a resounding “NO!” They are, in fact, quite simple. The hard part is quieting your mind and your “self” long enough to focus on completing them. That, and quite possibly the fact that, once we write out our purpose and goals, we take responsibility for our own goals. Our society has this idea that we are not responsible for our own lives, nor do we need to be. Yet that is the exact mentality the US was built on! It’s exactly why the US, as a whole, has been so prosperous for over 100 years!

Once you commit your purpose and goals in life to paper (either physically or virtually), it becomes highly apparent who is responsible for attaining them…..you! There is no one you can look at to say it is their job to accomplish them. But it is through taking this responsibility that we gain the freedom to do what we want with our lives and be prosperous!

Don’t be afraid to be responsible for your own life and its’ direction. Step up and be accountable for making your life what you want it to be. For it is only through your own actions and thoughts that you can attain the prosperity that is yours for the taking. You just have to be willing to take the steps necessary to reach it!

8DFS0002_smPaul Bond is a Registered Nurse and award winning Nurse Educator who produces a twice monthly podcast called Emergency Nursing Today. His company, Paul Bond & Associates Consulting, offers courses and coaching on such topics as positive thought, reaching your potential and improving your life experience. He also offers courses for continuing education credit for health professionals through PhoenixCE. The podcast can be found on iTunes, and PhoenixCE offers  “podcast extras” for more in-depth coverage of the podcast material.

Paul is also the President of the Morning Coach advisory board and currently pursuing his coaching certification through Morning Coach.

Follow Paul on his journey and learn more by visiting his website at http://www.paulbond.com. If you enjoyed this post, or have a comment about it, he would enjoy hearing from you! You can email him at paul@paulbond.com

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Do You Have Your Act Together?

By Debra Moser | Published May 16, 2011

iStock_000016220503XSmall[1]Do you dream of success, with the perfect job or want to be the chief cook and bottle washer of your own company? Of course you do, we all have dreams of happiness and financial prosperity.  Conversely, have you seen your perfect job slip away because you haven’t got your act together?  Are you one of those people who wish their success on luck at the local casino or the weekly lottery tickets?  Success is not measured by your luck it comes with hard work, patience and persistence. 

The old adage that “hard work pays off” is absolutely true.  You alone are responsible for your success.  You have to believe in yourself, make plans, prepare, dive in and act! 

Believe in yourself.  Get out of lack consciousness and believe in yourself and your own self-worth.  It starts by taking care of ourselves.  Love yourself wherever you are at in your life.  This shows the universe that you are an abundant person.  It is all intertwined.  In the past, I know this is where I had fallen short and at times I still do because I’m looking after everyone else instead of me.  The buck stops at you and me.  Embrace the beautiful being that you are and make the commitment to improve your health and you will see the abundance unfolding and your dreams realized.

Preparation and planning.  Once you have the love and acceptance of self, it is now time to put the preparation, plans and work in order.  You are on a mission. Like any good solider going out on a mission you need a mission statement.  You must define your values and goals to support this statement.  A personal mission statement has the same principles as a business mission statement; the subtle difference is a personal mission statement is intended to give you clarity to define what is most important in your life.  So I ask you to consider this question: What do you really want in life?  In Stephen Covey’s book First Things First, the author succinctly defines a mission statement to be: “connecting with your own unique purpose and the profound satisfaction that comes from fulfilling it”.   Your personal values are your spirit or core beliefs and these values play a definitive role in your decision making process and in all facets of life.  Examples of values are: love, family, personal growth, integrity, benevolence and creativity.   A goal is a personal plan or strategy that you are aspiring to achieve within a certain timeframe.  Whether you want to lose 10 pounds in the next six months, start a new business or learn a new language in the next year, make sure that they are attainable and aligned with your values and mission statement.

Now you are prepared with defined values and goals and a mission statement in hand you are ready to take action! The choices and decisions you make every day have a profound effect on your life.  Choose wisely, listen to your intuition and follow your heart and you will be successful.

 

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Destination Determination

By Traci Vincent | Published March 15, 2011

iStock_000010537674XSmallI recently watched a documentary about the legendary UCLA Basketball coach, John Wooden.  He is the most acclaimed basketball coach in NCAA history, winning an astonishing 10 National Championships.  The principles he lived by and taught to all of his players became known as The Pyramid of Success.

There are many important and powerful elements to this pyramid, but I decided to pick just one, intentness or more commonly called, determination, for this blog.  In the face of adversity, the ability to pursue goals even when prospects for success seem dim is the definition of determination.  It is the ability to stay the course, and when thwarted, to try again, harder and smarter. It is to persevere relentlessly.  Thinking back to John Wooden and all his successes, many people don’t even realize that he was a collegiate coach for 18 years before he ever won his first championship.  Now that is truly a man of intent and determination.  He taught that every person should determine to give his/her personal best in every situation.  He emphasized to his players that their greatest challenge wasn’t the opposing team or some lack of talent, but rather their own self-doubt.  How many of us have ever struggled or been thrown off-course by that?

Mastering determination requires that you ask questions that fill you with positive expectation, rather than one’s that stem from fear or doubt.  For instance, instead of asking yourself, “Will this work?”, try switching to some positive inner dialog and change that to, “How will I make this work?”  Many situations that may seem unfair or less than we had hoped, can actually be opportunities to build skills and add value in other ways that we were not aware of initially.  By releasing doubt and fear, we open ourselves up to truly give our personal best each and every day.  By consistently concentrating on our objective, building our skills and adding value to our circumstances, we will dynamically pursue our life purpose and achieve our goals way beyond our wildest dreams.

“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.”--John Wooden

Traci Vincent

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Setting Goals That Work

By Traci Vincent | Published February 21, 2011

smart goal setting conceptWe all know people who love to set big outrageous goals and many of us may have even voiced goal statements such as, “I want to make $100,000/year and only work 20 hours a week.”  That’s fine to be think big and be creative like that, but the hard part comes with implementing such a plan.  Setting a goal is necessary, but it’s definitely not enough.  We must know how to implement our goals.

First, most people are not specific enough when setting goals.  I have heard people say, “I want more customers” or “I want to lose weight” or “I want to pay off my debt”.  This type of goal setting is not really concrete or measurable.  To make these goals attainable, you must ask yourself questions like, “How many customers to I want to have?” “What should my body mass index be for my height?” or “What debt do I need to pay off first?” By making your goals specific, you create a guide to follow or a roadmap, so to speak.

Next, if you don’t set specific goals, there is less urgency to reach these goals.  Rather quickly, you will find yourself making the “first exception” time and time again and losing consistency to reach the desired goal.  By setting goals with timelines, you have something to work towards each day and avoid being thrown off track by statements like “I’m too tired to exercise” or “I want to go out with friends” or other self-sabotaging statements.  Without well-defined goals, it becomes easy for you to just do what most people do and that is, to just give up.  Without the guide or map, we will lose direction, veer off path and probably crash.

We’ve talked about the basic components for short term goals, but let’s not forget about long-term goals either.  This is where our dreams and aspirations reside.  We must put action steps together that will link our short term and long term goals together. For example, let’s say you wanted to earn $2000/month in residual income but over time this grew into a $10,000/month income. Would your dream be to quit your day job? Travel more? Build a custom home? Start another business?  It’s up to you to decide the destination of your goals.

Defined goals give us feedback to know if we are staying on track.  If we discover that we are not, we are able to make the necessary changes in the short-term that will allow us to be successful in reaching our long-term goals.

  • What are your short-term goals?
  • What is your time frame or time budget to accomplish this?
  • What are your long-term goals?
  • Link all these together.  Working with the example from above….You might have the goal to make $2000 residual income, working 15 hours a week within 6 months from today.  You will continue to grow this model until you are able to cover living expenses, pay off debt, then finally quit your day job and travel to South America for one month.

Take the time to write down your goals.  Putting them on paper will be a great motivator and put you in the right frame of mind to move forward each day.

Traci Vincent

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3 Steps to Breakthrough

By Traci Vincent | Published January 30, 2011

iStock_000006611636XSmallI attended the Mastermind Retreat this week in Florida and had an unforgettable experience at Billy Beck III’s training facility there. He reviewed  the steps to having the best body ever from the inside out and challenged each person to visualize their goals and write them down on a piece of cut board.  On the other side of the board, we were asked to write down what we thought would stop us from achieving these goals.  Next, he asked us to cross out those words with a big X, then write the mantra or as some might say,  affirmation, “I am… ” and filled in the blank with a picture of how we envisioned ourselves. A few examples might be, I am strong, I am fearless, I am an inner warrior, etc. Finally, it was time to breakthrough to the other side.  One by one, each person stood in front of their board looking at what is stopping them from achieving their goals and at the same time examining their affirmation.

I don’t know what other people in the group were thinking, but as I stood there, I realized all the excuses and rationalizations that I have created and used to prevent me from moving forward and progressing in so many areas in my life be that health, career, relationships, wealth or even happiness.  I stared at the board, found my stance, pulled my arm back like a powerful bow and released a punch that broke the board in half.  Wow! What a feeling! I broke through to the other side!

Now looking back and thinking about that day, I feel that breaking the board was actually the easy part.  Daily life is where the challenge will come. How will I implement this breakthrough excitement and commitment to change into my life on a consistent basis, day in and day out?  I discovered that real transformation will only occur if I am totally honest with myself in all these areas.

So what are the 3 Steps to Breakthrough?

  1. Write down goals and look at them daily
  2. Write out a mantra or affirmation and condition the mind by saying it aloud each day before going to sleep.
  3. Commit to a system or program and stick with it.

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”–Jim Rohn

How about you?  Are you ready for a breakthrough this year?  How will you condition your mind on a daily basis?

Give me your comments and let me know if are looking for help in reaching your breakthrough.

Traci Vincent

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